4 Proven Communication Strategies for Remote Teams
The need for better communication practices has become essential as project teams are shifting toward remote working due to the pandemic. Communication is much easier at the office, but it can be more of a challenge while your team members are spread across different time zones. Here, robust project management software can lend a helping hand. It can help you address different issues in the team by establishing a clear channel for communication.
Many enterprises are adapting to remote or hybrid model during and after the pandemic age, which could be beneficial in the long run. A study suggests that the number of remote workers is estimated to reach 36.2 million by 2025. As a remote work environment is here to stay, it has become important for project managers to find new ways to streamline communication with their teams.
Despite long commutes for home offices and conference rooms for Zoom accounts, the need for respectful and effective workplace communication is perhaps more important than ever. In this blog, we are going to discuss effective practices for virtual team management.
Key Remote Team Communication Practices
The communication needs of a remote team are different. Even the communication speed can differ within a remote team. Lack of immediate response and missed messages can lead to anxiety and a lack of trust. Therefore, remote teams need a different mindset, processes, and tools to communicate effectively.
However, it is not easy for you to eliminate communication bottlenecks while juggling multiple projects. You need effective strategies to address the challenges of communication within a remote team setting. Here are the best practices for remote team communication that can help you overcome such challenges effectively –
1. Establish Guidelines for Better Communication
Remote team members might prefer different communication methods but that should not hinder a transparent and positive remote work challenges and solution across the organization. You need to establish clear-cut communication guidelines to avoid any kind of misinterpretation among your team.
Additionally, communication guidelines can help you address individual differences more effectively. Also, they assist you to manage expectations about response times to facilitate transparent conversations within your team. All such things, in turn, can help project managers to build trust among their teams.
2. Engage Via Video Conferencing and Chat Channels
One-to-one conversations are an important part of professional communication. However, in the remote work environment, you cannot truly understand the problems faced by the team members. Also, it becomes challenging for you to get a clear idea about your team’s work if you are merely dependent on emails.
You can easily bridge this gap in communication by scheduling regular or daily stand-up meetings through video conferencing solutions. It can help you connect with your team members instantly and help you make team conversations more impactful.
Apart from this, dedicated chat channels are also a good way to send private and group messages. Whether you are initiating task-based conversations or you want real-time team interaction, instantaneous chat messages prove to be helpful.
Also Read : Top Tips to Streamline Project Management Processes
3. Leverage Intuitive Collaboration Platform
Switching between multiple platforms for team communication and collaboration can add extra stress to overall project management. You need a digital intuitive platform that can make it easier for you to facilitate team communication and collaboration.
Other than that, a robust team collaboration tool provides you with multiple features like viewing project timelines, assigning tasks, chat, and others. Furthermore, it can help you integrate communication best practices and redefine communication among your remote team.
4. Organize Virtual Team-building Activities
Virtual team communication and project team members may face boredom and silos while working remotely. Such a scenario can create multiple issues like decreased productivity, disengagement, hurdles in communication, lack of collaboration, etc. that can adversely affect a project team’s work.
The only way to eliminate this situation is to organize virtual team-building activities that can create social and interpersonal bonds between team members. You can arrange virtual quiz contests, Instagram-reels competitions, digital icebreaker activities, virtual open mic, etc.
By connecting with others, team members can be able to communicate better, discuss issues, and find solutions to problems.
Concluding Lines
As a manager, you want to successfully administer the distributed workflows of your team while establishing better communication. Here an all-in-one project management platform facilitating both communication and collaboration serves as a complete package. It can help you manage overall workflow and enhance the quality of team interaction with minimal distraction.
TaskOPad is a centralized task management app that can help you track the progress of the delegated tasks. Furthermore, its chat feature can help you understand the roadblocks faced by your team and provide support accordingly. In addition to this, the chat feature can also assist you to implement team communication best practices to improve team engagement. Want to know more about our product? Just drop us a mail at info@taskopad.com to schedule a demo.
